


Come Home

by amooniesong



Series: The Prophecy Unfolds: Expanded Universe [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Drabble, Emotional Hurt, Gods, Introspection, Kid Fic, Manhunt AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:02:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27153562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amooniesong/pseuds/amooniesong
Summary: Lizzie was four years old when the second and third of the new Gods were born. She was five when the last new God was born. She was eight when she left home.------------------Pre-Prophecy drabble for the Manhunt AU.
Series: The Prophecy Unfolds: Expanded Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1933918
Comments: 22
Kudos: 66





	Come Home

Lizzie was four years old when the second of the future Gods was born, followed only a few weeks later by the third. When she had met Phil - the Creator teaching her how to hold him (with his head resting in the crook of her arm, a mop of blond hair on his head and a strong pair of lungs that helped him cry long into the night) - she had at first loved him: the possibility of finally having a friend in this lonely world was suddenly within her grasp. As it became apparent that she would have to wait for him to grow, that her loneliness would remain part of her for a good while longer, she had learned to despise him. By the time that Illumina came along, she had no interest in him. She hadn’t held him, nor had she loved him. When he was older she might reconsider her stance, but for now both babies disgusted her. The fact that they were so similar in age - that they would grow up with a friend and never yearn for one like her - only increased her disliking for them.

She was a young child, and the true complexities of emotions such as  _ love  _ and  _ hate  _ and everything in between were unclear to her, but she understood enough. She knew when she looked at them that she was filled with an ache - a strange pain that she could only describe as a tummy ache with no clear cause of symptoms - and when she looked back to the wide open expanses that surrounded the home she was living in, everything felt a little bit bigger: the sky seemed further away and the dark seemed darker. 

When she turned five, the final God was born. Technoblade. He wasn’t like the others and the Creator voiced that. He was a runt, an anomaly, something had gone wrong in the process of creating him. Lizzie didn’t understand what those words meant, but the tone in the Creator’s voice whenever he spoke them was unkind: she knew that they meant nothing good.

Despite her lingering dislike of Phil and Illumina - the boys growing up close, still too young to play with her but both finding a friend in each other - she found that she felt closer to Technoblade. If she looked back as an adult, with more of an understanding of how she must have felt at this point in her life, she would have been easily able to spot what it was. Jealousy that Phil and Illumina had each other, jealousy that they appeared to be valued more by the Creator than she was - and that the Creator was now treating Technoblade with the same disdain he had shown her. She felt an overwhelming urge to protect Technoblade, to give him a friend in a world where friendships were lacking and she knew the pain of isolation all too well.

She still spent her evenings sitting alone out in the open plains. She watched the sky at first, seeing the clouds pass by overhead and watching the different shapes they made, until the Creator began to unleash stars. As he paid more attention to the Universe outside of her reach, Lizzie came to realise how little she meant to him. It was difficult for her to comprehend as a child, and even as an adult looking back on how she grew up it would be hard to explain exactly how she felt then, but the tummy ache had gradually gotten worse over the years. Illumina, Phil, and Technoblade grew up. They learned to talk, to walk, and they had each other. Eventually they reached a point where they could play with Lizzie, but there was a marked difference between the four. 

When Technoblade was three, when Phil and Illumina were four, and when Lizzie was eight, she decided that she would leave home.

She didn’t know why, and she didn’t know where she would go or what she would do, but she knew that she would. Lizzie had no place here - wandering off into the horizon would change nothing about her life. Of course, as a child, she had given no thought to basic survival, but she had set off with nothing but the dress on her back. Her hair was tied in two messy pigtails framing her face - keeping her hair from her eyes as she began on her epic quest to walk far,  _ far  _ away from the only home she’d ever known.

As she walked further, the grass became taller, and when it was as high as her chest each breath felt like she was suffocating. Lizzie couldn’t tell the difference. She continued on, and as the sky above her head turned from blue, to yellow and orange and red, then to purple and black, she persevered. Nothing could stop her from her goal - not even not knowing  _ what  _ her goal was. Her stomach rumbled and her legs ached, her head was heavy and her eyes were drooping shut - the day had been long and she needed to rest, no matter how stubborn she was. So she found a small area of trees and clambered up into the branches. Nothing had been in her way as she’d walked - the plains just as empty and isolated as the rest of her childhood had been - but there was no telling what the Creator might invent during the night. He could have created monsters, dragons, or predators that would have made quick work of her had she remained on the ground - the branches were simply the safest option. They weren’t comfortable and there was a danger that she rolled out of the tree itself, but the ground was soft in that eventuality.

Sleep came easy for the child, and she slept without being disturbed. No wind or rain woke her, the ground didn’t open up and swallow her, she simply remained safe until morning.

When Lizzie awoke, she was faced with a new series of challenges. While it had been easy to continue walking yesterday when she had built up her momentum and courage throughout the day, it was much more difficult now. With little memory of the direction she’d come from - the horizon looking the same in every direction - and her rumbling stomach growing much louder and much more demanding, she realised that however alone she’d felt before, someone had always  _ been there _ . 

A physical presence might not have been nurturing or kind or loving, but it had kept her alive: something that she was far too young and inexperienced to do herself.

Her options were limited, none had particularly good outcomes, and she lacked the maturity to know what to do.

So Lizzie sat at the foot of the tree, watching the clouds go by once more. Minutes passed, or hours, or seconds, before she was eventually greeted by a familiar, cold voice.

“Come home, Lizzie.”

The Creator had found her.

“I don’t want to come home.” She replied. Lizzie didn’t turn to face him, and her voice - however hoarse - was as strong as she could make it. “You don’t want me.”

The Creator chuckled.

“No.” He said, and the ache in her stomach suddenly felt like nothing she’d ever known before. It was like she’d been punched, like someone had taken a hammer to her heart and crushed it into pieces. She wasn’t old enough to truly understand everything about the world she inhabited, but she  _ was  _ old enough to recognise what sadness felt like. She knew pain, she knew heartbreak, she knew loneliness and fear. She felt all of those things, but so much more, and even with the lack of water she’d consumed over the last day she still found herself tearing up at the simple confirmation of her worst fears.

She wasn’t loved, she wasn’t wanted, she was just a tool. The Creator didn’t care if she was happy, if she felt safe, he simply wanted to ensure that she survived and learned how to work for her share of the Universe. 

“Come home, Lizzie.”

What was the point in saying no again? At best, she’d be asked the question again. At worst, she’d be left to die and another would be created to take her place. The Creator didn’t care, so why should she? 

The only good that would come of her accepting his offer to return was seeing Technoblade, Phil, and Illumina again. They were still young, and having each other they had obtained a happiness she never had. They weren’t alone, they weren’t sad, they were loved by each other. Perhaps if she returned she could experience some of those feelings with them. 

And if not, she could protect them from feeling as abandoned as she did.

Instead of replying verbally, Lizzie got to her feet and walked to the side of the Creator. Her legs were weak and shaky, but the prospect of food, water, and a proper bed to sleep in were enough to help her take the few steps she needed to in order to stand at his side. Rather than look up at his face she kept her gaze firmly on the horizon, only briefly looking to her side in order to take his hand to journey home. 

In the blink of an eye they had moved, yet her surroundings barely changed - instead of trees there was now a home but the horizon continued to roll seemingly endlessly in all directions - undisturbed save for the few areas of trees and bushes. As soon as they arrived the Creator let go of her hand and she was left alone again. She felt the hole in her chest opening up, the ache returning, and it was something she could quite easily have let herself dwell on. It would have been so simple to just succumb to the sorrow in her heart. But instead, the laughter of the young boys caught her ears and she forced herself to smile. If not for her, then for them. She could shelter them from the pain she experienced, she could let them have a childhood. 

Lizzie made herself their protector, a role that from that day onward she treated with utmost seriousness. No matter what the world around them became, no matter what the Creator would ask of them, she would always be there.

**Author's Note:**

> whaaaaaat two little pre-prophecy fics in one day? :o apparently i just have a thing for developing lore, & i'm having way too much fun creating lizzie's character for this au so honestly i hope you enjoyed this sad little look into her childhood! 
> 
> as always, feel free to kudos, yell at me in the comments, find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/amooniesong) & ask for a link to the discord server if you fancy - no pressure! 
> 
> thanks for reading <3


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